WXS21

This report describes the results of a first of its kind, nationwide survey of Spanish speakers on severe weather in the United States. The 2021 Severe Weather and Society Spanish Survey (WXS) was designed and administered by Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (IPPRA) at the University of Oklahoma. While it is the first time IPPRA has conducted this survey, the English equivalent is an annual series (see Silva et al. 2017, Silva et al. 2018, Silva et al. 2019, Krocak et al. 2020, and Krocak et al. 2021 for information on WX17, WX18, WX19, WX20, and WX21 respectively). WXS was fielded June 9 – June 17, 2021, using an online questionnaire that was completed by 1,032 U.S. adults (age 18+) that were recruited from an Internet panel. In order to complete the survey, respondents had to indicate that they speak Spanish well or very well. In addition to asking respondents many of the same questions as the WX surveys, the WXS survey also asked respondents a number of experimental questions to test the way risk and probability are communicated to Spanish speakers. Like the WX surveys, the WXS measured public trust in the National Weather Service (NWS), extreme weather and climate risk perceptions, risk literacy, interpretations of probabilistic language, and interpretation of longer-range severe weather forecasts (like those from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center). This report presents an overview of methodology of the survey data collection and a reproduction of the survey instrument with means and frequencies for the questions that elicited numeric responses. The University of Oklahoma provided funding for all data collection. NOAA’s Weather Program Office through the U.S. Weather Research Program provided funding for survey design and data analysis